sparkle Geforce nvidia 8400 PCI card Issue

True, but if it's not playing any games at all now, and it was before, then that's unlikely to be the issue, no? I can't agree with trying the older PSU either (especially not if he's then going to upgrade drivers, removing any possibility for a comparison) - but I think we should see the newegg link for his new PSU in any case.

 

thanks everyone for the help...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817709011
Thats the power suppy i just got. So i figured i try something, I moved the card and the power suppy to another computer in the house. The other computer i got in '04 and it runs the card and suppy. Doesn't crash doesn't do anything but runs and runs great. Could it have been a motherbroad issue?

 

I'm not trying to be mean, but that's not exactly the best PSU out there. A 580 PSU for $20... that spells trouble to me.

As far as PSU's go, I would stick with the well known brands like Corsair, PC Power and Cooling, Thermaltake, Antec, SeaSonic, etc.

 

Why do people always skimp on PSUs? It's the one component in your computer that can easily kill everything else in your case if it dies. I've lost count of how many times I've seen a PSU take everything with it when it dies. I guess Madhatter is right, try plugging your other PSU back in and see if it works any better. If it does... lesson learned.

 

I don't have anything to help the OP with that hasn't already been said, but I wanted to say something about PCI graphics cards.

I'm glad they're still being made. I'm about to build a fileserver with an Atom mini-ITX board, and the only available slot is PCI. Thanks to the almighty PCI card I can use my fileserver as a media player as well. If I want, I can even play Deus Ex....

That's about all they're good for, though.

 

Yeah, there definately is still a market for PCI graphics cards, just not for gamers:icon_bigg

 

I've learned about cheap PSU's the not so easy way when a temorary one in my computer went and it took everything with it and although the computer was a cheap celeron 2.8 with an old geforce AGP card it still was my only computer i had with the only good thing being that i got an upgrade slightly quicker.

 

so we ve got a graphics card that doesn't quite sparkle with today's game requirments.. hmm..

 

I had problems like that when changing my settings in DX9 in crysis, The game usually plays in DX10 but with DX9 I get alot of graphical glitches and random artifactacts and Just Alot of the symptoms your saying.

I fix my problem by just not messing with settings and playing in DX10, But I doubt that would ever fix your problem. Sorry for the meaningless post.

 

Do the following:

Go here: http://www.memtest.org/#downiso
Download either the floppy or CD ISO version. Put it on the media, and then boot into it. It will test out your RAM and if it fails any test, then the RAM is no good. I suggest you test one stick of RAM at a time so that it is easier to tell which is the bad one and which is still good if you have more than one stick of RAM.

BTW, for your system, that PSU will be just enough for your specific hardware. Cheap PSUs are cheap, but they are just enough. Eventually, as you get the funds or you decide to do a major upgrade, get a better known PSU just to be on the safe side.

 

Hmm, I have to agree - 580W for $20 sounds too cheap. I would question how reliable that would be. I'd rather buy a lower wattage PSU (400-500W) made by a reliable manufacturer. Some companies (Antec, Thermaltake, Enermax to name a few) have "true power" PSUs where the ratings are actually pretty reliable. Your PSU is basically guaranteed to run at 580W for a few seconds, perhaps. Look at the total load on the sticker, and it will be much lower, I am sure.

Does your board not have an AGP slot? An AGP card would be preferable.

I would uninstall the drivers and download the latest compatible drivers directly from nVidia's site.

When you say crashing, what do you mean? Does the game quit to windows? Do you get a blue screen? Does the computer completely freeze and have to be reset?

You may find that you can either force your computer to stay on the blue screen to read the error code and Google it, or otherwise use the Event Viewer to determine this.

I hate to say it, but if someone were to bring that into the shop where I worked and tell us they were trying to do what you said with it, we would tell them they needed a new PC, and price up an upgrade (new board/chip/RAM/graphics card and maybe PSU) for them.

 

Try another power supply before you buy one,
Update to the latest drivers from nVidia's site,
See if there's any patches for those games, possibly may not support the card without them.

Usually when you see artifacts it's either the PSU being too small (I'm suprised 250W has lasted you as long as it has) or a fault with the die on the GPU overheating.